Redistricting gets testy in Tallahassee

Aaron Deslatte
February 12, 2010

TALLAHASSEE -- Backers of two constitutional changes that would make it harder for Florida lawmakers to gerrymander their political boundaries got a long-anticipated tongue-lashing Thursday from a testy legislative panel charged with overseeing next year's redistricting process.

FairDistrictsFlorida.org collected enough signatures to place Amendments 5 and 6 on the Nov. 2 general-election ballot. They would require lawmakers to draw legislative and congressional districts to be more compact, mindful of existing city and county boundaries, and not favoring or disfavoring political parties and incumbents.

Currently, the maps can look like masterpieces of modern art.

But Republican legislators have been highly skeptical of the petition drive, which was largely financed by Democratic-leaning teacher and service-worker unions and big-plaintiff law firms.

The group's chairwoman, Miami lawyer Ellen Freidin, told a joint House-Senate panel Thursday that dozens of other states had rules similar to what the amendments would require for the once-a-decade redistricting process, "and they all manage to get their maps drawn."

Senate President-designate Mike Haridopolos, R-Merritt Island , and House Speaker-designate Dean Cannon, R-Winter Park , disagree. They've held several hearings keying on whether the amendments would prevent lawmakers from following federal mandates to draw political boundaries that ensure minorities are elected to the Legislature and Congress.

On Thursday, a succession of GOP lawmakers grilled Freidin on how the amendments would impact the redistricting process, which starts in earnest later this year when new census figures are published.

Rep. Dorothy Hukill, R-Port Orange, questioned whether the amendments "enshrined" the federal Voting Rights Act protections for minority access or "enhanced" them. She and Freidin engaged in a technical back-and-forth that ultimately saw Hukill accuse Freidin of making conflicting statements.

"I am not going to be badgered by this," Freidin said.

That drew the ire of several lawmakers who told her to "toughen up" and prepare for a "rocky road."

Freidin is a lawyer whose husband, Philip, is a past president of the Florida Justice Association, the trial lawyers' lobbying group. Sen. John Thrasher, R-St. Augustine, accused her of backing a plan that would push the state's redistricting process into the courts.

And Haridopolos objected to Freidin's comment that drawing "fairer" districts "was not rocket science."

"With all due respect, you're not helping your cause," Haridopolos said, daring her to draw maps using the proposed new mandates.

Memo: Aaron Deslatte can be reached at adeslatte@orlandosentinel.com or 850-222-5564.